[ BUSINESS BRIEFS ]

Staff writer, with agencies

Thu, Aug 23, 2012 - Page 14

TAIEX dips on profit-taking

The TAIEX pulled back on mild profit-taking yesterday as investors took cues from an overnight fall on Wall Street, dealers said.

Selling emerged in certain local electronics stocks after US-based personal computer vendor Dell Inc issued a cautious sales outlook for the quarter to October after Wall Street closed, they said. Some old economy stocks, in particular the textile sector, also suffered obvious sell-offs as investors locked in profits after recent gains, they added.

The weighted index closed down 10.23 points, or 0.14 percent, at 7,496.58, after moving between 7,461.07 and 7,501.26, on turnover of NT$62.28 billion (US$2.08 billion).

At the end of the session, the textile sector had suffered the heaviest losses among the eight major sectors, finishing down 3.5 percent.

Powerchip to trade new shares

Memorychip maker Powerchip Technology Corp (力晶科技) yesterday said it would trade its new shares on the GRETAI Securities Market on Sept. 28 following a 60 percent, or NT$33.24 billion, cut in its capitalization. Investors could continue trading Powerchip’s old shares through Sept. 17.

The company said in a filing to the Taiwan Stock Exchange that its paid-in capital will be approximately NT$22.16 billion following the capitalization reduction, with net value per share increasing to NT$2.15 from NT$0.86.

Patent lawsuit dropped

Bluestone Innovations LLC, a South Korean patent holding company, on Monday withdrew a patent infringement lawsuit against Taiwan’s LED chipmaker Formosa Epitaxy Inc (璨圓), the Taiwanese company said yesterday in a statement.

Formosa Epitaxy is among several LED firms facing legal complaints by Bluestone Innovations in 2010 for infringing upon its intellectual property in Group III-V nitride production process. Others include Taiwan’s Huga Optotech Inc (廣鎵光電) and Tekcore Co (泰谷光電) as well as Japanese LED chipmakers Nichia Corp and Toyoda Gosei Co.

TSMC sold NT$12.7 billion of five-year bonds at a yield of 1.28 percent, and NT$9 billion of seven-year bonds at a yield of 1.39 percent, the report said.

That was compared to the previous sales of NT$9.9 billion five-year bonds and NT$9 billion seven-year bonds in late June, when the five-year debts were sold at a yield of 1.28 percent and the seven-year bonds at a yield of 1.40 percent.

Rare earths quota increased

China has slightly increased this year’s quota for rare earths exports under controversial controls on the exotic minerals needed by manufacturers of mobile phones and other high-tech products.

The Commerce Ministry yesterday said the quota for the second half of this year will be 8,866 tonnes. Added to the quota for the first six months of the year, that brings the 2012 total to 28,119 tonnes — an increase of about 3 percent over last year.

China has about 30 percent of the world’s rare earths, but accounts for 97 percent of production. It alarmed global manufacturers when it imposed export controls in 2009 while it tried to build up its companies to produce products made of rare earths.

NT dollar declines

The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar yesterday, declining NT$0.035 to close at NT$30.010. Turnover totaled about US$521 million during the trading session.